Publications

July – August 2009
Article

The Descent of Finance

What if the current recession turns out to be like the Great Depression of 1929-1933? Four years from now, the United States might find itself with a still-shrinking economy, half as many banks as in 2009, a third as many hedge funds, and retail banking resembling a... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; International Finance; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry

01 May 2000
What Do You Think?

Can You Hard-Wire Performance?

viable alternative. Original Article Several months ago, the General Electric Company announced that it had closed a deal with Boeing that specified that only GE aircraft engines would be installed on the newest version of 777 aircraft built and sold by Boeing. This... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

Putting Health Care Consumers in the Driver’s Seat

U.S. consumers more power over decisions related to health care. Those who advocate consumer-driven health care—including conference chair Professor Regina E. Herzlinger—believe that shifting control of health-care purchasing decisions... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

23 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 23

profitable, loyal customers into high maintenance customers whose value stemming from their frequent purchasing is eroded by their increasing cost-to-serve. The case advocates a deeper appreciation of the two-way, reciprocating nature of customer View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

November 2022 (Revised April 2025)
Teaching Note

Driving Decarbonization at BMW - Teaching Note

By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Michael W. Toffel

Teaching note in support of the case "Driving Decarbonization at BMW" (HBS No. 123-008) View Details

15 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 15, 2008

provided with a historical dataset, from which they can estimate historical volatility of the stock returns. They can also use the dataset to study various statistical relations between the securities. In particular, two of the three... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Appalachian Mountain Club: Transforming Governance

By: Walter J. Salmon and Jaan Elias

Starting in 1988, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) began a controversial transformation in management and governance. For its first 112 years, the AMC's structure had resembled that of a country club--volunteer leaders directed the club's operations and its small,... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Transformation; Corporate Governance; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Labor and Management Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Education Industry; Education Industry

April 2012 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Merck: Operating Science-Based Business

By: Ananth Raman, Inga Maurer and William Schmidt

Merck is known for its commitment to investing in basic R&D. Are Merck's long-term investments justifiable when the firm faces extreme earnings pressure? View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Management; Research and Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Operations; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

01 Mar 2015
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for March 2015

argues that it is not the business plan but the personality behind it that counts. Behind the Mask: Embrace Risk and Dare to Be Better by Don Hastings (MBA 1953) and Leslie Anne Hastings (Xlibris) In this memoir, Hastings relates how, as... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

13 Jul 2010
First Look

First Look: July 13

holding across a wide range of industries and controlling for factors such as productivity and related technological capabilities. The results are explicated by a framework I develop for understanding the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Manuscript Collections - A Chronicle of the China Trade

trade and steamboat navigation, having been a captain himself. The collection highlights the transportation industry and the introduction of steamboats to China. The collection includes correspondence View Details

March 2025
Case

Intuit: Lobbying to Save TurboTax

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Tom Quinn

Intuit’s TurboTax software held a dominant market position in the online tax preparation market. Many politicians over the years had proposed changes that would have harmed Intuit’s business—notably, allowing the Internal Revenue Service to develop a government-owned... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; Fairness; Moral Sensibility; Government Legislation; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Reputation; Civil Society or Community; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Rank and Position; Power and Influence; Technology Industry; United States; Europe

28 Mar 2018
News

Fueling the Future

recruiter and marketing director to head of innovation. Today, she runs Fueled for Growth, an innovation consulting company, which assists financial firms with due diligence in the energy and industrials sector and helps companies solve... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

February 2018
Case

Robert K. Steel at Wachovia (A)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Nien-hê Hsieh and David Lane

In September 2008, Robert Steel presided over the sale of Wachovia, a top U.S. bank, less than three months after becoming its CEO. Wachovia’s exposure to risky home loans led depositors and creditors to flee the bank on Friday, September 26, after the FDIC seized and... View Details

October 2015 (Revised July 2017)
Case

OMV Petrom: Investment as Partnership—When It Takes Three to Tango

By: Dante Roscini, Emer Maloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Petrom was privatized by the Romanian state in 2004 and acquired by Austrian oil company OMV, with the state retaining a 20.6% stake in the company. The situation was particularly challenging for the foreign investor since the sector in which the company operated was... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Privatization; Acquisition; Foreign Direct Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Austria; Romania

July 2007
Case

Kroger Union Negotiations 2005

By: Dennis A. Yao and Mary L. Shelman

A stylized version of the negotiations between Kroger Company and its local unions during 2005. Management faces a sequence of individual negotiations with local unions in addition to meeting the new competitive challenges presented by Wal-Mart's expansion in the... View Details

Keywords: Labor and Management Relations; Labor Unions; Reputation; Wages; Management; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style; Competitive Strategy; Retail Industry

10 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 10

information environment relating to IFRS adoption that is more likely to reflect changes in comparability versus information quality. If IFRS adoption improves financial statement comparability across firms, we predict this should reduce... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

2018 Symposium - Race, Gender & Equity

Color and Culture and co-edited volumes: Race Critical Theories; Refugees and the Transformation of Societies; A Companion to Gender Studies (‘outstanding’ 2005 CHOICE award); Clones, Fakes and Posthumans: Cultures of Replication, (2012), Dutch Racism (2014), and View Details

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Mehta Shah, Amanda Elizabeth Tolleson and Bobbi Thomason

At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Nutrition; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Food and Beverage Industry